Security in  General   

Tomorrow will have an island. Before night
I always find it. Then on to the next island.
These places hidden in the day separate
and come forward if you beckon.
But you have to know they are there before they exist.

Some time there will be a tomorrow without any island.
So far, I haven't let that happen, but after
I'm gone others may become faithless and careless.
Before them will tumble the wide unbroken sea,
and without any hope they will stare at the horizon.

So to you, Friend, I confide my secret:
to be a discoverer you hold close whatever
you find, and after a while you decide
what it is. Then, secure in where you have been,
you turn to the open sea and let go.

By William Stafford

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Other poems by William Stafford:

• A Ritual To Read To Each Other
• Across Kansas
• Allegiances
• Ask Me
• Atavism
• For My Young Friends Who Are Afraid
• Just Thinking
• Lit Instructor
• Notice What This Poem Is Not Doing
• Objector
• Remembering Mountain Men
• Security
• The Light By The Barn
• Thinking For Berky
• This Life
• Traveling Through The Dark
• Waking at 3 a.m.
• When I Met My Muse